Monthly Archive: February 2015

25

Friday afternoon (known throughout the media and PR world as the time when people dump news stories they don’t want covered), the Seattle Police Department released their new Social Media Policy. It includes much of what you’d expect when it comes to social media accounts managed as official SPD accounts. However, one component struck me as odd, and potentially extremely problematic.

5.125-POL 2 – Employee Personal Use of Social Media:
Employees may express themselves as private citizens on social media sites as long as employees do not:
– Make, share, or comment in support of any posting that includes harassment, threats of violence, or similar inappropriate conduct
– Make, share, or comment in support of any posting that ridicules, maligns, disparages, expresses bias, negative connotations, or disrespect toward any race, religion, sex, gender, sexual orientation, nationality, or any other protected class of individuals– Make, share, or comment in support of any posting that suggests that Department personnel are engaged in behavior reasonably considered to be unlawful or reckless toward public safety
– Otherwise violate any law or SPD policy
Employees are responsible for the content of their social media accounts. Employees shall make reasonable efforts to monitor their accounts so that postings made by others on their accounts conform to this policy.

I’ve bolded the part that strikes me as unhelpful to the SPD’s own efforts to change the department culture for the better.

How is it okay to tell your officers that they aren’t allowed to comment when someone else points out that SPD officers aren’t doing their jobs well and are being reckless? What happens if someone from SPD is disciplined – or fired – for doing something utterly reckless toward public safety (like, say arresting a man for using a golf club as a cane, or pepper spraying a man walking on the sidewalk)? How can I take my police department seriously if, on their own time, its officers have to just pretend that their colleagues aren’t breaking the law?

I’m also wondering if this applies once a police officer is convicted of doing something unlawful or reckless. Are the members of SPD not allowed to say “hey, that was awful, I don’t want that in my police department” on a Facebook post? How can I be expected to start to build any trust in the police department’s claim that they will take misconduct seriously if they discipline their own officers for simply acknowledging the problems within their own department?

My guess is that they are concerned about building distrust in the ranks, or perhaps they’re afraid of litigation (“see, their own officers are saying what they are doing is wrong!”). But the fact that there isn’t even a caveat for commenting when a police officer is fired or put in prison because of misconduct seems to me that they just want their officers to pretend that they never do anything wrong.

Another interesting thing to me is that this ostensibly also applies to anyone who isn’t an officer but works for SPD, including staff in the Office of Emergency Management. Hmmmmm.

23

I feel like I have a pretty good understanding of what makes scientific research credible, and that I generally know when to believe something (climate change) and when to not (Andrew Wakefield). And yet when it comes to health-related items, I’m kind of baffled.

Okay, not totally baffled. I know that movement is good. There doesn’t seem to be any credible research suggesting it’s better to NOT exercise at all. Cool. Got that. And, as of late, I’m finally coming to terms with the fact that sugar is probably super bad for me. Also not surprising. A bummer, but not surprising.

After that, though, I’m kind of out. Should I be a vegetarian (both for animal rights purposes, and also for my health)? Vegan? But (somehow, magically) low carbohydrate? Should I eat all the eggs but no dairy? What about carbohydrates? Only in veggie form? Whole grain? Or not at all? I thought my brain needed a minimum of 130 g carbohydrates to function – and this guy wants me to limit it to 30? After reading this book, I really don’t know what to do. I felt kind of gross reading it, as though I were experiencing the print version of one of those olde tyme snake oil salesmen. There were so many ‘guarantees,’ and a lot of anecdotes about his patients. Plus, Dr. Perlmutter has his own website where he offers up his ‘preferred’ supplements, which reads a little skeevy to me. And while he cites a lot of research, I don’t have the time to read all of the studies, so that junk I posted at the beginning of this review isn’t really applicable. Plus, when I googled “Debunking Grain Brain” I got a whole lotof hits.

But on the other hand – the man is a neurologist and a nutritionist. That gives gives him some credibility, right? And I read Good Calories, Bad Calories last year, and Sugar Nation just a few weeks ago, which made some of the same arguments. And we know that nutritionists have gotten it so wrong in the past ** cough ** margarine ** cough **. Is it possible they are still getting it wrong? And of course, when I googled “Debunking [group that debunked this book]”, I also got hits.

This book was not really helpful. But I still might try some of the suggestions, mostly because if I clean everything out of my diet, I can figure out what my body likes. I’m sure there’s some dairy I can’t process, but I eat so much of it I haven’t figured out which it is. And there are probably some other foods that I have more energy after consuming, and some that make me not feel great. Perhaps that can be a good take-away from books like this (and It Starts with Food, which is up next): nutrition is complicated, and we just have to figure out what works best for us.

– “Reed’s defenders have long maintained that Reed was set up by Fennell for his fianceé’s murder, likely after Fennell found out about the illicit relationship. In a recent article about the case, The Intercept chronicled Fennell’s history of violence, including allegations of stalking and rape. Indeed, Fennell is currently serving a 10-year prison sentence for kidnapping and sexually assaulting a woman while on duty and in uniform.” “Oh My God, This is Way Off”: New Investigation Shows Texas Is Likely Set to Kill an Innocent Man (h/t @LilianaSegura)

– “Another formerly incarcerated women said she was shackled throughout her entire childbirth experience in 2010. On a press call to announce the findings of the report on Thursday, she told reporters that she was cuffed to the bed and unable to sit up, even as her daughter was moving through the birth canal. Maria Caraballo, who has since become an advocate for women in prison, said she remained shackled while she was being stitched up post-delivery.” New York Prisons Are Illegally Shackling Inmates During Labor, Harrowing Report Finds (h/t @MsFoundation)

Policing

– “Smith said he’s repeatedly told some of his members—particularly “the ones who complain about it”—the following: “You applied here. And you have to treat people all the same. You have to serve the community. If you don’t like the politics here, then leave and go to a place that serves your worldview.” The tough talk, Smith said, usually continues with him saying something like this: “They hired you because they thought you were going to be able to work in a diverse community. And if you can’t, well then, I guess there are still places across the country that aren’t diverse, so go work there. But those won’t last forever.”” Seattle Police Union President to Cops: Get With the Times or Get Out of This City (via @strangerslog)

Capitalism

– “Mitchell said that she was skeptical that Consumers Energy cared about its elderly customers, even after it responded to her father’s death by setting aside $9 million in profits for heating assistance. “I think it might be a front,” she argued. “If you are sorry, why did you shut off the heat for a 69-year-old man? I understand that every business has to be concerned about profit, but they have to be concerned about the customers too. Maybe gas companies should take account of what people earn. That would be helpful.”” 69-Year-Old Vietnam Vet with Throat Cancer Freezes to Death After Company Shuts off His Gas (h/t @Are0h)

Environment

– “Concerns have also been raised about the potential contamination of local water-treatment facilities, after officials noted that at least one of the derailed tanker cars fell into the Kanawha River. The area is about 30 miles from the location where 10,000 gallons of a coal industry chemical called crude MCHM spilled and tainted the drinking water supply a little over one year ago.” West Virginia In State Of Emergency After Massive Oil Train Explosion (via @ThinkProgress)

Biology

– “When genetics is taken into consideration, the boundary between the sexes becomes even blurrier. Scientists have identified many of the genes involved in the main forms of DSD, and have uncovered variations in these genes that have subtle effects on a person’s anatomical or physiological sex. What’s more, new technologies in DNA sequencing and cell biology are revealing that almost everyone is, to varying degrees, a patchwork of genetically distinct cells, some with a sex that might not match that of the rest of their body.” Sex redefined (h/t @stavvers)

18

“In 1996, the church sent CDs to members to help them build their own websites, which would then link them to the Scientology site; included in the software was a filter that would block any sites containing material that vilified the church or revealed esoteric doctrines.”

This book is 450 pages long, and filled with horrifying – and fascinating – things. But it wasn’t until page 386 that I actually stopped in my tracks and dog-eared the page with the above sentence. It is just so deeply fucked up to use what should be a nice, innocent gesture (‘here, let us help you build a website’) to do something so underhanded.

I love this book. It is dense but extremely easy to read. It is laid out logically, it is exquisitely researched (his fact-checkers on the New Yorker article that preceded this book had over 900 items they verified), and it is fascinating. I took so much more away from this than just “man, that is a screwed up religion.” Because honestly, I think if we had access to any religion’s leadership within the first few years of its existence, with the investigative resources we have now, someone could write a book like this. I am pretty sure that the leadership of many (most?) organized religions have done some seriously screwed up things (e.g. covering up pedophilia, **cough** Catholicism **cough**), but I don’t think that means that the practitioners are evil, or stupid, or mentally deficient.

This book delves into so much that I could write pages and pages about it. It talks about what makes something a religion – is it spirituality, is it a belief structure, is it a group of practitioners who do similar things – as opposed to a cult. It discusses the dangers of government choosing what is and is not a religion (in the U.S., it’s basically all up to the IRS, which is just weird). It looks at whether this tax exemption designation is really fair, given the fact that it can cover up all manner of hideous human rights abuses (such as those suffered by the Sea Org members of Scientology).

Mr. Wright also looks at the responsibility those who make themselves the face of religious movements have to those who are treated horribly by the church leadership. When I mention Scientology, you all probably picture Tom Cruise first, then John Travolta. If you think on it a bit, you might picture Jenna Elfman, or Kirstie Alley. Given what Mr. Wright so carefully and deliberately lays out as the horrible actions taken by church leadership, and the mountains of evidence available about the violent nature of its current leader, should we hold these people responsible for their willful ignorance?

If that weren’t enough, the book also got me thinking about the nature of belief, and what people are willing to do when they think their life and salvation are on the line. If you are a deep believer yourself, but of a more established religion, some of the things church members go through might not seem so unbelievable if you replace Scientology with a fundamental version of any belief system. If you truly believe that L. Ron Hubbard had some deep connection to the realities of the universe, and the meaning of life, and that the systems he has provided are the best way to make you the best person you can be, then it makes sense that you would stay even when you are scrubbing a dumpster with a toothbrush.

But that gets to the huckster piece of things. Was L. Ron Hubbard mentally ill? Evil? A con man? Much of the first half of the book really focuses on him, and I get the sense that he was a bit of a con man but that he was mostly a deeply troubled person who probably could have seriously benefited from the psychiatry that he built his church to fight against. It’s possible his writing has helped a lot of people. But the Church – that is, the leadership, and those who don’t speak out against and fight back – have done so much harm. And it isn’t so easy to just say ‘why don’t you leave’ – the book outlines so many horrifying ways that the church leadership manipulates people into staying. It’s complicated and an almost textbook example of how to control people with fear.

15

– “No matter what other lofty ideas of toxins and vaccine-related injury anti-vaxxers try to float around in their defense, that’s really what all of this is about: we’re facing a massive public health crisis because a disturbing number of people believe that autism is worse than illness or death. My neurology is the boogeyman behind a completely preventable plague in the making. I’m Autistic, And Believe Me, It’s A Lot Better Than Measles (h/t @allisonkilkenny)

– “You know what vaccines protect your children from? Pain. Suffering. Irreparable harm. Death. And you would be the first to line up if you had an inkling of what the death of a child feels like. You would be crawling through the streets on your hands and knees, begging, begging to get that vaccine into your precious babies because that is what I would have done, if I could, to save my daughter.” My 15-Day-Old Son May Have Measles (h/t @BreeSmithWx)

Islamophobia

– “As such, the shooter was portrayed as an irrational, lone killer who does not represent atheists. However, the shooter — who was transparent in his contempt for religion and religious people — was undoubtedly inspired by the Islamophobic rhetoric espoused by radical anti-theists communities represented by Dawkins, among others.” How the ‘Muslim Menace’ Steals Muslim Lives (via @roqchams)

– “Media reports and anti-pot legalization advocates have hyped the idea that “drugged driving” would wreak havoc on the roads now that states are beginning to legalize marijuana. In fact, highway fatalities have gone down since Colorado legalized marijuana.” Marijuana Doesn’t Make You More Likely To Crash Your Car (via @ThinkProgress)

Health Care

– ““The prohibition on physician-assisted dying infringes the right to life, liberty and security of the person in a manner that is not in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice,” the high court said in a unanimous ruling.” Canada’s high court legalizes physician-assisted suicide (h/t @ACLU_WA)

Immigration

– “There is not one family that doesn’t send money back home. It is a part of our culture to take care of our relatives, no matter how distant they may be,” explains Ahmed, “My little brother and sister have nothing to do with terrorism. They deserve to eat and to go to school. The money we send helps with that. Now they no longer have access to that.” Why Seattle Should Give a Damn About Somali Remittances (via @strangerslog)

Police Brutality

– “Surveillance footage first obtained by Northeast Ohio Media Group showed Tajai running to her brother’s side after Timothy Loehmann fired two shots at the boy, who was carrying an airsoft-style gun. As the girl neared her brother, Loehmann’s partner, Frank Garmback confronted her and forced her to the ground. Loehmann rushed over, and the two knelt beside her as she rolled on the ground. Eventually the officers handcuffed the girl and placed her in the back of the police cruiser, less than 10 feet from her dying brother.” Tamir Rice’s sister says Cleveland police lacked ‘decency’ and ‘respect’ in detaining her after shooting (h/t @Copwatch)

10

I’m pretty sure I found this book based on an excerpt that was posted on a link on one of the blogs I regularly follow. But I’m not sure which one. You might recall that I have a particular interest in books related to death and dying, as well as forensic anthropology. This very quick (like, 90 minute) read is a nice introduction to what forensic artists do and, more interestingly, how they do it.

Ms. Bailey started her “ask a forensic artist” website as a way to answer questions folks have about her profession. No, it’s not like it is on Bones. No, you don’t have to be an expert artist (but you should have some talent). It is apparently a pretty popular site, so she decided to write a book. As I said, it’s a very simple read despite what could be a complicated subject. In fact, the writing is VERY simple, to the point where at times it could have doubled as a young adult work of non-fiction. Also, how can something be the “most unique profession?” Unique is an adjective that cannot be modified. Arg!

It was basically exactly what I was looking for from the title, and would have gotten about four stars from me except for the end. That’s right – it wouldn’t be a Lollygagger review if I didn’t talk about racism, sexism or rape culture, amiright? The author decides to end the book with anecdotes from other forensic artists from across the U.S., which is a nice idea in theory. She states multiple times that her opinions on some areas aren’t universally shared; this would be a good place for her to highlight some of those differing opinions.

That’s not really what these little two-page bits do; they are instead meant to be a little bit about how these particular artists got into the field and a couple of illustrative stories about their work. What bothered me is that three of the dozen or so artists used their time to tell stories about times when people were making up the crime and so describing people they knew, not criminals. That’s not so much an issue, but two of those three stories were about women making false rape claims. The first one angered me; the second one pissed me right off. I get that those things happened, but considering that only about 2% of reported rapes are false reports, and that this is the same percentage as for other felonies, it’s just bullshit to highlight these stories as though this is a common occurrence. One mention of it, I guess, maybe. But including TWO stories (one of which was told with such acid on the writers tongue that I got the distinct impression that this man just doesn’t like women) is to my mind irresponsible and is just another subtle way to promote this ridiculous idea that women lie.

So yeah. If this is a topic that interests you, read the book. But stop when you get to the anecdotes section at the end.

8

– “The destruction I took part in suddenly intersected with news that our reasons for waging war were untrue. The despicable conduct of those at Abu Ghraib was made more unforgivable by the honorable interactions I had with Iraqi civilians, and, together, it fueled the post-traumatic stress I struggle with today. My war was completely different than Chris Kyle’s war. That doesn’t mean his war is wrong, and mine was right. But it does mean that no one experience is definitive.” I was an American sniper, and Chris Kyle’s war was not my war (ht @saladinahmed)

– “When the answer to solving interpersonal violence doesn’t include a harsher crackdown by law enforcement, mainstream feminism has trouble coping. It also tends to have negative attitudes about giving power back to tribal governments, because their idea is that Indigenous women need to be rescued by the benevolence of white women from scary, savage brown men on reservations.” There is No “We”: V-Day, Indigenous Women and the Myth of Shared Gender Oppression (via @ChiefElk)

– “The stars are really aligned at this moment to make major improvements in our accountability system,” Daugaard said. “There’s a social movement demanding it, the guild has shown a new pragmatism and openness, there’s a consent decree in effect and a federal judge who has expressed a keen interest in seeing accountability improved, and we have nearly unanimous recommendations from public bodies that were charged with reviewing the existing system.” Officer Cynthia Whitlatch’s Conduct Shows SPD Needs Systemic Reform (h/t @heidigroover)

Islamophobia

– “”I automatically felt as if she was not comfortable around me, and this is really difficult to deal with as a Muslim woman in America.” Hider recounted that the woman finally turned to her and said, “This is America!” Her husband overheard the conversation and told the woman to turn around before a ticket agent allegedly intervened. Hider says she was shaken and was approached by a Delta ticket agent, who was onboard the flight helping passengers. Hider says she asked her, “What’s the problem!?” After listening to what the mother had to say, the Delta agent directed her to “get your kids and change seats” and threatened to kick the family off of the plane says Hider.” Muslim mother says she was discriminated against on Delta flight (h/t @roqchams)

Vaccines

– “We are experts in what our children like to wear to bed, and what toy they’re favoring. We know their smiles, their sleep sounds and the way they mess up putting on their sneakers. But despite the platitudes thrown at mothers – that we’re doing the hardest job in the world and that motherhood is also being a chef, chauffeur and doctor – the truth is that we do not know everything about our children and what is best for them. That’s why we have real doctors. And no matter how condescended one feels by the medical establishment – and I’ve had that feeling myself – it does not excuse putting other children’s lives at risk.” Your feelings about vaccines don’t trump another child’s medical reality (via @JessicaValenti)

– “Over the next year or so, Russo allowed the pediatrician to give her daughter a few shots — though not the vaccine against measles, mumps and rubella. A new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention finds no link between the number of vaccinations a young child receives and the risk of developing autism spectrum disorders. Then, when Vivian was nearly 3, Russo decided her daughter should get all her vaccines. By that time, Russo says, it was pretty clear that Vivian had autism, caused by something other than a vaccination.” Once A Vaccine Skeptic, This Mom Changed Her Mind (via @nprnews)

– “Parents could no longer cite personal beliefs or religious reasons to send unvaccinated children to private and public schools under the proposal introduced Wednesday after dozens of people fell ill from a measles outbreak that started in the state’s Disneyland resort. Indeed the only exemptions would be for children who could be at risk due to allergic responses or a weakened immune system caused by serious illness.” Strict vaccine law introduced in California following measles outbreak (via @ajam)

– “In math, the girls outscored the boys in the exam graded anonymously, but the boys outscored the girls when graded by teachers who knew their names. The effect was not the same for tests on other subjects, like English and Hebrew. The researchers concluded that in math and science, the teachers overestimated the boys’ abilities and underestimated the girls’, and that this had long-term effects on students’ attitudes toward the subjects.” How Elementary School Teachers’ Biases Can Discourage Girls From Math and Science (h/t @oanacarja)

7

This is another book where I should have read the description more closely. I thought this would be a book about the ills of sugar, and in a way, it was. But what it more specifically was about was one man’s experience with type-two diabetes (including learning from his father, who lost most of his leg and his life to the effects of the disease). It was a compelling story, but the mixture of arrogance and naïveté that the author manages to put forth left me feeling like I could have better spent my time learning about this subject.

Mr. O’Connell is a writer, so that helps. Books by doctors can be a challenge if they don’t also have the skill of being able to explain very scientific terms in ways that those of us not in the medical field can understand. He has written for Men’s Health magazine, and Muscle and Fitness which, for me, left me a bit skeptical. I enjoy magazines like that on occasion (I used to subscribe to Fitness and Self, both of which are aimed at women), but I also am fairly distrustful of some of the articles, especially ones that suggest that something that medical professionals have discussed for years are have ‘obvious’ answers. And Mr. O’Connell, unfortunately, falls into making those claims often. It’s possible he’s correct, but that’s where the arrogance gets to me.

The naiveté, however, comes in when the author talks about how he was able to take control of his type-two diabetes. He had access to many different tests that I don’t think most insurance covers (which could be a problem in itself, although he doesn’t discuss that), and has a job with the flexibility that allows him to do things like eat every two hours. I could do the same, but I’m fairly certain that most non-office jobs don’t allow for that – in factories pregnant women have been fired for needing to just leave to go to the bathroom more than once a shift. And the type of food he says we need to eat is what we usually hear these days, but the cooking time and the cost can be prohibitive, especially to those who might most benefit from it. Plus, he includes loads of (mostly unsubstantiated) supplements to the point that I was reminded of those magazine articles I used to skim skeptically. Even if they work, if anyone has walked into a vitamin or supplement store lately, you know how expensive that all is. And he doesn’t really touch this at all.

I think the information he shares is, for the most part, helpful, and some of it does seem very scientifically sound. He makes strong cases for errors that the entities we most trust on these issues – such as medical associations, including the American Diabetes Association – are getting a lot of the issues around type-two diabetes wrong, but at the same time he spends three chapters arguing that something that only one doctor (his) thinks is a huge issue, but other medical professionals definitely do not. Is his doctor the lone correct voice? Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaybe. But I don’t think this author is in a position to determine that, and he speaks as though he is.

6

If you’ve been in a bookstore in the last few months, you’ve probably seen this book. Or maybe I’m the only one who kept noticing it. The cover shows two white girls, probably ten years old, with their heads together, half of each face outside of the frame. It was part of a ‘buy two, get one free’ sale at Powell’s (the same one that resulted in me reading The Martian, so I’m forever thankful for it), and the back looked like it might be good. And it was, mostly.

The book is set in St. Louis, and is told from the point of view of Kate, who has an identical twin sister Violet (Vi). According to the back cover “…in junior high, Kate makes a fateful decision that drives the sisters apart.” Eventually the sisters “find themselves drawn together again.”

I don’t think that really adequately captures what this book is about. Maybe it’s a good thing, because I’m not sure I would have read it if I’d actually known what it was about. I’m not spoiling anything that you don’t learn ten pages in – these sisters are psychic. Yeah, I didn’t get a supernatural vibe from that description either, but that sixth sense is kind of a giant part of the book, and since it is introduced in the first chapter, it’s kind of odd it isn’t mentioned in the blurb. Or maybe they rightfully thought it might turn off people who would otherwise enjoy it. The ‘fateful decision’ also isn’t, really fateful. Or nearly as dramatic as the description would describe.

But the book is really interesting because it follows a woman who is otherwise what we’d likely describe as ordinary. Educated woman not working outside the home because she’s raising two young children; husband with a decent job. She also has a less than ideal family, and had a much less than ideal childhood. The author does, I think, a good job of creating a very vivid world, and showing that not everyone who we think is ‘ordinary’ is as they appear. I’m not thrilled with the ending, although it seems fairly true to the characters involved. I say add it to your library list.